Symtech Innovations Ltd. Fined $90,000 After Worker Dies

Court Bulletin

Symtech Innovations Ltd. Fined $90,000 After Worker Dies

TORONTO, ON - Symtech Innovations Ltd., a construction business in the commercial and industrial sectors, has been fined $90,000 after a worker died following a fall through a skylight.

On February 14, 2012, employees of Symtech were on a job site at 620 Supertest Road, North York, installing solar panels on the rooftop of an industrial building. The rooftop had a large surface area divided down the middle by a row of about 20 skylight openings that had their skylights in place. The skylights looked down into the building through to the main floor, approximately 5 metres below.

A worker employed by Symtech as its acting foreperson at the project site spoke with a co-worker, then turned and began walking toward the north end of the roof. After taking a few steps the worker slipped and reached out to brace the fall on a skylight. The skylight did not support the worker's weight and the worker fell through it to the floor below, a distance of about five metres. The worker was critically injured by the fall and subsequently died from the resulting injuries about a week later.

An investigation of the incident by the Ministry of Labour revealed that no guardrails or protective coverings were installed around or over any of the skylights on the rooftop as required by law.

Symtech Innovations Ltd. pleaded guilty to failing as an employer to install protective coverings over skylights located on the roof while work was proceeding. The company was fined $90,000 by Judge Geraldine N. Sparrow at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto.

In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.